Ignorance is bliss? Not really

Ignorance is bliss? Not really

New Delhi: A Sikh Gurdwara in Buena Park, Los Angeles was vandalized on Sunday with hateful graffiti against the ISIS which appears to be a case of mistaken identity. The parking lot of the Gurdwara and the temple was sprayed with anti-ISIS and anti-Islam remarks.

Sikhs in the western world have been the victim of several hate crimes because of the ignorance prevailing among the locals about the origin of the Sikhism. The similarity in the appearance as Sikh also keep long beards is a reason for the mistaken identity.

In September, a Sikh man was beaten and called Osama Bin Laden because of his appearance.

The Sikh community was asked to take extra caution in the wake of California shooting. It was said that hate crimes were expected to take place and Sikhs might be the wrong victims of this unjustified revenge.

Recently, Donald Trump with his venomous speeches sparked a fire in those ignorant minds who have a stereotypical fear about Islam.

This highlights two problems. First, how can a hate crime be justified? Even if a psychopathic couple shot 14 people dead, does that make the whole religion and its followers terrorists?

The second problem which is at the core of it is the ignorance. It is quite appalling how ignorant can people be. Imagine this scenario that you see a person and by the physical appearance of him, you come to a conclusion whether he is a danger or not. The height of ignorance is putting a tag on people who just happen to look like the ones you hate.

It's like what Americans say about the difference between a Chinese and Japanese, 'Same noodles, different sauce'.

It is a shame that a country that first achieved the freedom and a right to build a modern nation forgetting all the past baggage has turned into a nation which has created stereotypes about the rest of the world in its society that claims to be all inclusive and boasts of being a 'melting pot'.

Indians and middle eastern people are same… all of the east Asians are same.

The struggle of 1776 was not to make the America that it has become. Nobody can deny this that the whole world appreciated how America was built from zero, how they have developed. People might criticize their means, but one has to praise the life standard they have created.

Noam Chomsky lives in the US and criticizes it. Soviet Russia collapsed because it did not allow the criticism of the state.

However, it appears that the fear has so much got into the minds of Americans that the country is no more same.

What the US is doing in Syria is hard to understand. They are against ISIS who are against Assad regime and the US is against Assad too and then Russia is bombing against IS also, but the US does not like Russia doing it. This whole sentence did not make any sense because what the US is doing does not make any sense.

How about informing people so that ignorance can be done away with? It makes more sense than bombing which is taking the lives.

Maybe Americans need Thomas Gray to come himself and say that this wasn't the ignorance he thought to be bliss. Ask the innocent victims, for this is only creating hatred.

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